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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1931-02-17 431 SELECTMEN'S MEETIN11 FEB. 17 , 1d31. A regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen was held at the Selectmen ' s Room, Town Office Building at 7 :45 P.M. Messrs . Burnham, Custance, Blake , Shannon and Trask were present . The Supt. of Pzblic 4orks and the Clerk were also present. At 7 45 P .M. hearinr was declared open on the Petition of the E. E. I . Uo. and tne New t.ngland Ti. Tel. Co. for permission to place one pole on Highland Ave. approximately 120 feet souti of Slocum Rd. Mr. busby of the N.E.Tel. & Tel . Co appeared to explain the petition. Pole location, No persons appeared to objec4 to the petition being granted, and it was therefore voted to aoprove the application. nearing was declared open at 8 P.' on the 3oard 's Dexter Rd. notice of intention to lay out Dexter Rd from Fuller Rd. to Williams Rd- Mr. Custance conducted the heiring. Letter was received from F. S. Douglass of 14 Plymouth St. , Arlington, in which he opposed the construction of the street at the present time , ming to the fact that his lot is vacant 111 and there are several lots beside his that have not been fully 1- 111t up for several years , and business is not very good. Mr. Alfred C. Mortimer, Jr. 14 'exter Rd stated that the residents present, nine in numbe- at the time of speaking, were in favor of layin- out the street . There was , however, some question ahout the cost of construdtion. They compared the figures with the cost of construction of Bertwell Rd. and Simonds Rd. and felt that Dexter Rd. was figured quite high. They were informed that when Simonds Rd. was built that a reat deal of the had already been put in there from Bedford St . and the ledge excavated at the top of the hill was used for fill in the low part the other side of the top of the hill, and in this way considerable money was saved. The Town Engineer informerth- gentlemen that there would be a great deal o'" e cauation on Dexter Rd. and that is why the firres were a little higher. Mr. Albert 4. Emmens 7 Dexter Rd. asked if tle drains on Simonds Rd. could be used on Dexter Rd and wus informed by the Suot , of Pul-lie Works that whatever drains coild be used on Dexter Rd. would --e used, -it he felt that it would probably be necessary to put in considerable drainage. Mr. '3owen, Dexter Rd. , inquired about the width of the street , and was inPormed that the width was a 50 ' street to the back of the sidewalk line , leaving 5 ' on each side for a gravel sidewalk. Re asked whetter or not the gra el sidewalks coald 432 -� be left off is some places .there there are slopes such as in his case, and he as informed that if it did not affect the road it wo tld be left off. He was informed 0 '-rat the most expensive portion of the construction would be on the section toward Williams Road. Mr. Lewis W Ellis , 54 Gleason St.. , West Medford , stated teat his lot was below the level of the stre-t and asked if some loam could be dumped in there, and he was informed that it would be. ' r. A. Randall Soderberg, 51 Dexter Rd. asked whether t street was to he raised or lowered in front of his house . The Town Engineer informed him Dexter that it would be raiser' about 8" to his granolithic Road. step. He asked also whether it would interfere with his driveway, and the Engineer informed him that he did not believe it would. Attention was also called to the fact that the trees were set out in the middle of the crass plots , and they asked if they would be disturbed. Mr. Custance informed them that they would not be dis- turbed unless they were too high and interfered with the road. They also asked whether or not the water services could be connected so that breaking into the new highway would be eliminated. Mr. Custance { informed them that if they knew of any persons intend- ing to build houses within the next two years , if they would notify the Board, they could make the water connections to the lot line . To make connections in all cases would be tying up the funds of the Water Dept. without any income . Mr. Clarence A. Small, 21 Dexter Rd qiestioned how the figures were aide up. All persons present were in favor of laying out tee highway. The hearing was declared closed and Mr. Mortimer w ,s requested to get the signatures of 75°1 bf the property owners . Resignation The --oard accepted the resignation of George of Geo. M. M. Davis as a Registrar of voter, inasmuch as he is . Davis . a candidate for the office of Town Clerk and Town Treasurer. Letter was received from the Supt . of Public Works in regard to the hanging of a picture entitled "News From Lexington", now hanging in the Pine doom. Mr. Scamman stated that the cases presented "News from to the Town by Dr. Tilton would hide a part of the Lexington. " picture and might endanger the condition of the Picture if it were allowed to remain hanging in its present place. He suggested that it might be hunt* in -net of the other rooms or on the panel in the hall. Mr. Scamman was instructed to communicate with Mr. James Stuart omith in regard to the position of ranging the picture. 4 433 Information rewarding the cost of construction of Farmcrest Farmcrest Avenue was hander to he. Custance. The total Avenue. cost of the construction is $9650.00 Application was received from Charles Tischer, 1833 Mass . Avenge for a Peddler 's License Mr. Fischer has Peddler 's had a license previously in the State, and now wants to License. secure a license just for the Town of LexinFton. It was voted to approve his application. Application for the nostiion of Buidling Inspector was received from George A. Jaynes, H yes Lane. Application was also received for the position of Building: Building Inspector from Fred Longbottom, 16 Independence Inspector. Avenue. Both applicants were informed that the applications would not be considered until after the annual March election. The Board discissed the matter of the assessment on the Swenson property, and after disczssing the matter, it was decided to send a letter to Swenson Brothers as follows : A. M. & Henney W. Swenson, Marrett Road Lexington, Mass . Swenson Gentlemen Assessment . As a matter of courtesy, we have taken up your request to consider the assessment of your property formerly owned by H. S. Kelsey. As a matter of fact, we have no j _irisdiction over the Board of Assessors in makino: their assessments on property. We have, however, analyzed the• figures and believe that your Property is not over-assessed and we a-e not unmindful of the purchase price. Yours very truly, Albert H. Burnham Chairman, Board of Selectmen. The Board considered the application for a Common Victuallers License from Annie Cohen, and decided to approve the transfer of this license to Annie Cohen to the end of the license te-m, namely, April 30, 1931, when the letters of recommendation are presented to the Clerk. Licenses. Garbage transportation licenses were granted to Nick Cotoni, Mill Street, Lincoln and H. P. Neville, Bedford. License was also c'ranted to John C. Phelps for a first class a7ents license, Paul Revere Garar:e, Marrett Road. 434 In regard to te.e letter sent to Peter Cannesa of (c 904 Mass. Ave. , Lexington, Mr. Burnham reported a telephone call from Mr. Cannesa in which he spoke very strongly Peter in regard to the letter sent him by the Board, and stated Cannesa 's that he was going to to to the State House and see license why the Board would not allow him to make a living. Letter was prepared to be sent to the Town Counsel in regard to the case. The Board signed the petition to be sent to the County Commissioners asking for the layout of a highway Highway, beginning at the terminus of High Street, Winchester, Winchester- thence in a generally westerly direction in Lexington Lexington. to a point on Lowell Street about midway between Summer St. and Maple St. Bill was received for the opening of the Town Clerk 's and Town Treasurer's vault which had to be Bill for drilled open on account of no-one having the combination. opening of The bill amounted to $40.00 It was decided to charge vault . this to the Town Clerk's account . Abatement in the amount of $5400 was signed by the Board abating all of the highway betterments on Taft Taft Avenue committed on February 3, 1931. Commitment Avenue was sinned by the board in the amount of Commitment . $5252.50. for a new commitment of betterments on Taft Ave. Letter was received from the American 1mployers Insurance Co. in which they stated that they would allow a rebate of $16.30 on the bond of the Town Treasurer, Refund on John H. Kane , cancelled as of liebruary 5, 1931, and bonds . at the end of the term March 2, 1931 they would allow a refund of $45. on the premium on the bond issued in the name of Helen C. Whittemore. Resignations of the following election officers Resignation were received Elvin E. Baker, Precinct One of Election Clesson Schofield ° Officers . Charles T_. . Vaughan " Two, who is a candidate for Town Meeting Memer. The Clerk reported having taken up the matter of filling vacancies with the Town of Arlington and Wardens to they state that they have never filled the vacancies , fill but communicate with the Warden in the Precinct, and vacancies . he fills the vacancies . It was thereore, decided to notify the Wardens to fill the vacancies in these cases . Mr Trask, to whom the letters applying for the position of mechanic `'or the Public Works Dept. were Mechanic , referred, stated that he conferred with all of the Public Persons ap-lying for the position except the Works application of Mr. McKey, of Cambridge, presented to Bldg. Mr. Scamman this evening, and this party being from out 435 • of Town, Mr. Trisk did not believe he should be considered as an applicant I Mr Trask stated that none of the applicants appeared to be interested in the lo at $35.00 per week when informed that the hours would be irregular, except Yr. Fr^nk Barry , Mechanic, School Street. Mr. Trask stated that he has known Mr. Barry Public for some time and when he operated the Paul -?rvere Garage, Works he did all of his repair work which was very satisfactory. Bldg. ne was not a .man afraid of work and hours do not frighten him. He recommended that Mr. Barry be employed on the trial basis at the rate of •$35. per week And if he does not n^ove satisfactory, to consider later some of the other applicants . It was left with ay1r. Trask to make arrangements with Mr. Barry as to tie hoars of employment after Toin g over the situation with him. The Town owns si_ teen automobiles and question arose as to what world be the proper time for the mechanic to be Repair of at work to repair the cars , also as to whether the drivers shoald be required to Trea^e their ewn cars . The question cars . of keeoin- an index of the cost of operation of each of the trucks was also considered and the purci as n - of a ca inet or pro,,idin-r a room for the tool'i o' the mechanic . It was finally left with Mr. Trask tr strai 'ten out all these items . The Board considerer whether or not a job Ii_ke the repair of the tractor which was recently done , running up a bill of some $800. should be done by }-ti,A meth-lnic Repair of It was decided that if a room was provided where he could take tractor. down the machine, he miTht repair it Ivr Custance felt that the expenditure on the tractor was ccnsidera le. It was decided not to make any additional allowance for election officers for a dinner at six o 'clock in the evening, at to simply allow them an e•ctra $1.00. Election Officers . The Clerk called attention to an error in setting the time of a neirine• for the approval o' Plans of Hearing, Ledgelawn Aven.te on harch 2, 1931 rather tnan on Mach 3rd, Ledgelawn the regular meeting date. Ave. It was decided to leave the he rine for March 2nd inasmuch as some of t_ e members of the oarc would be Present at that time, it bein tie time of the closing of the polls of the election. Commitment in the amount of $1473.90 for sewer Commitment assessment charges on mass . Ave , Cliffe Ave . , P Theresa Ave . was signed by the Board. Inasmuch as Edward ‘'v . Taylor has now been appointed Forest ,•larden, it was voted to remove the telephone Forest Fire service in Mr. Osborne J. Gorman's house . appropriation. It was voted that the Forest Fire appropriation take care of the payment only of bills for labor on 436 kAl Forest Fires and other matters pertaining to the main- tenance f equipment, etc. should be charged to the Fire .-I Dept. appropriation. CJ The Clerk called attention to the fact that the Board Fence, laid over the matter of furnishing a fence along the Nickerson Nickerson property dividing Belfry Hill and Hancock School & Hancock property. School Dr. Shannon stated that estimate for this expenditure property. was inc'uded in the kark Dept. appropriation but the Appropriation Committee eliminated that amount. The Clerk also called attention to the fact that Mr. James A. Peirce of Marrett Road requested that a fence be constructed on Pollen Road on his property. Request or Question arose as to whether or nOt there was a strip of fence land between his property and Follen Rodd, and the Supt. Foden Rd. of Public Corks was requested to find out what the situation was. Mr. Burnham called attention to the electric crane which had been purchased for the Public Works Dept. for loading and unloading pipe. the Supt. stated that the crane cost about $1000. Mr. -Burnham complained that he had not heard about this expenditure before until the Appropriation Committee meeting, and he felt that Electric it was an unnecessary expense and that a pulley arrangement crane. Which would be less expensive could be installed until the time came when the Board was in a better position to spend money in the Public Works Dept. Mr. Scamman reported that he receive() two bids on furnishing the crane. question arose as to what extent the Supt. could spend money for the various Departments without bringing the matter before the Board. The following is the weekly report of the Supt. of Public Works. For• the week ending February 14, 1931. HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT Work was done on Hi-1l Street uncovering ledge and drilling, blasting and removing ledge one day. The removal of snow, sanding streets and sidewalks, and cleaning catch basins and gutters occupied the departments during the balance of the week. Next week the department will attend to the regular maintenance and if neces ary to snow removal. MOTH & SHADE TREE DEPT. Moth nests were cleaned and-treated with creosote on Grant Stre-t, Sherman Street, Hayes Land and Fletcher Avenue. Dead limbs were removed from trees in Weston Street and Lincoln Stre-t. 437 Next week the department will continle the work of treating moth nests . PARK 77,PIHTTi. HT Work was done .)n the skatin rink, cleaning up, and cn the construction of cement posts for seats . Next week tne regular maitenance work will he attended to and also the constriction of cement sett posts . WAT-R S1,W DEPARWEN7 Layinp7 cement floor at Public Works Elilding; thawing out frozen 'Ape in Westview S* reet ; worked on frozen pipe to garage owned by James J. Wals; ; one man painting hydrants . Regular maintenance wo -'k is planned for next week. ENnINEERINq DEPARTMENT Highways Location plan of proposed road from Winchester to Lexington. Sewers Continued work on Town Sewer Study. Figured sewer assessment bills for Cliffe, Mass . and Theresa Ivenues . Miscellaneous 7rew up ink tracing oStone property ( E.Lex. ) showing proposed taking. Stated survey or ddition to Parker School oroperty. Located ptrcels and figured areas of transfers for assessors . Attended meeting of Vine Brook Draina;7e Committee February 11th. Work on stre-A numbering plans . Indexed office plans . Yours very truly, William S. Scamman Supt . of Public Works Tb.e meetinfi adiourned at 11 :10 P.M. A true record, Attest : Clerk.